So, I'm about to start up a new campaign, and my friend and I are sort of hoping to make characters that can work off each other (while still being effective individually). We're both sort of looking to create support hybrids, with his being more focused on front line fighting and mine being more geared towards ranged combat.
His build is pretty much set: He's going for a cavalier (order of the shield), then into steel falcon as soon as it's available. He took the feat racial heritage (tengu) and intends to eventually take Tengu Wings and Tengu Raven form.
Naturally I want to create a character who can ride on his back.
Right now I'm looking at a halfling paladin, which has a "cheer for the little guy" sort of appeal which is just absolutely heartwarming. Right now I want to try something a little different and go for sling staff/light shield, with the warslinger racial trait. I'd sort of like to be a switch hitter, but I have a feeling with this particular race/class combination it wouldn't be possible. I suppose I'm telling you this because I would be happy to hear general advice, but really I come here with a more specific question.
I can see my little halfling being a valuable teammate right at level 5, when he can have point blank shot, precise shot, and deadly aim. But level 5 is a long time to wait.
So I'm trying to figure out how I would be effective until that point. Divine Hunter seemed like a possibility, but quite frankly I really want some of the vanilla paladin's class features, most notably the divine mount. (It's also incompatible with oath of vengeance, which fits terribly roleplay wise but perfectly mechanics wise.) Another option seems to me to go sort of with a pseudo-switch hitter, using my staff as a melee weapon when all the targets are engaged in melee, taking deadly aim as my first level feat, and delaying precise shot until level 5. A fighter level seems like a valid idea, but then again I love paladin and would rather delay those class features as little as possible.
So anyway, any help that could be offered would be absolutely wonderful, I'll check in here to see how things are going and such periodically.
PS: If it matters we're all using using 15 point buy.